Protecting your assets when you’re getting married

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When you get married, you don’t often think about the implications it may have on any assets you own. It’s easy to assume that your assets will remain separate after marriage, but in many cases, all assets acquired during the marriage are considered marital property. These would be divided up in the event of a divorce. So, it’s crucial to take steps to protect your assets before you get married if you want to make sure that you keep them should the worst happen.

One way to protect assets before marriage is to enter into a prenuptial agreement. This is a legal document that sets out how assets will be divided in the event of a divorce. By entering into a prenuptial agreement, you can specify which assets will remain separate property and which assets will be considered jointly. This can help protect any assets that you had before the marriage or particular assets that you want to keep separate.

You can also protect your assets by keeping records of all your financial transactions. This includes keeping receipts, bank statements, and other documents that prove you own the assets separately to joint marital property.

You can also keep your assets separate by:

• holding separate bank accounts;
• creating a trust to hold the assets; or
• titling assets in your name.

If you have individual wealth or assets, it’s important to consider how these will be handled during your marriage. If you don’t address it beforehand, it can make it more difficult to separate out if you divorce and could put your assets at risk.

Creating a pre-nuptial agreement clearly sets out what assets you have, and how you’d like them treated should the marriage not last. You may also want to create a post-nuptial agreement. This is similar to a pre-nuptial agreement but is entered into after the marriage has taken place.

These agreements can be complex to navigate. Our family law solicitors have invaluable experience in both pre and post-nuptial agreements and can help you to protect your assets, secure your financial future and ensure that everything is dealt with legally and fairly.

If you’d like to discuss any aspect of this or other areas of family law, get in touch.